Class Action Law suit for windshields in Gladiator and Wranglers

[Da'Geezer]

Since I'm on the 4th windshield on my Gladiator, I was wondering if this was gonna happen.

Jeep Windshield Lawsuit Alleges Glass Cracks and Breaks | CarComplaints.com

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[jeepstertim]

"Then in the Spring of 2023, he contends a gnat hit the windshield and caused a chip to develop which was filled in by an auto glass repair company."

Was it wearing a helmet?

 

[Hootbro]

Having owned Wranglers, Gladiators and even a FJ Cruiser, it is kind of accepted that driving a vehicle with the windshield airflow dynamics of a brick is going to catch debris and a higher risk of windshield cracks.

I guess the Gnat's will be represented in this civil action. Probably have the poor Gnat that died widow on the stand giving testimony.

 

[Volt0]

Honestly, i didn’t think that chips/cracks would be this bad; I’ve replaced/repaired my Gladiator windshields more than the combined repairs of all of my windshields for the previous 20+ years combined. That being said, I now look for ( and take action ) for the following:
1) remove rocks from the front tires as soon as leaving the trail or gravel roads
2) looking for some kind of protection, for the 3” of edge around the glass
3) take even more care on the highway to stay out of the ‘bounce zone’ for heavy trucks and rock haulers
4) don’t leave the remote start on so long that heats up the inside of the windshield aggressively at the bottom. Also fold the blinds out to capture heat near the top, and use square plugs to spread the heat more evenly from the middle to the left/right.
5) a bug deflector?

Some of these things are clearly on the vehicle owner, and some of these things are undoubtedly poor design by the manufacturer.

Rather than punish FCA, I would love to see a better glass implementation. Gorilla glass is a start, but we have a long way to go.

 

[Maximus Gladius]

I too have never had to replace so many windshields and this is my first Jeep….and the last I’ll ever own?

I see 2 options here. (There’s many more I’m sure)
1. FCA engineers (and they have some real good ones here) can design the angle of the windshield to lay more horizontal like other vehicles. That would be awesome.

2. Don’t spend stupid ass money on OEM glass. I pay $239CAD/per windshield at two different windshield replacement companies in Calgary. They hold up just as well as OEM.

Chips and cracks are one thing but what’s just as bad, visually is the grit blasting these get so you want to replace every year anyway as soon as the street sweepers have cleaned up the winter gravel.

 

[Rahkmalla]

1) remove rocks from the front tires as soon as leaving the trail or gravel roads

this is everyone's responsibility after leaving the trails for front AND rear tires. and always should be for all vehicles regardless of windshield shape and angle.

As much as it would suck breaking your own windshield, at least you've only victim to your own inaction. Driving off a trail shooting rocks behind you because you only bothered to look out for yourself isn't cool. I take the same issue with people who do front only mudflaps with a hearty "good luck everybody else" attitude, but not everyone agrees with me on that one.

 

[HooliganActual]

I will admit that in 45+ years of driving vehicles (I had a full license when I was 14) I haven't had as many windshields broken as I have with my Wranglers and Gladiator. With that out of the way, I will say that I have replaced 1 windshield on my 2016 Wrangler, none on my 2018 Wrangler and none on my 2020 Gladiator. I probably have a combined 100K miles across the 3 vehicles.

My 2016 did experience one of those mysterious defroster failures one chilly morning when I took my son to wrestling practice. I watched it skirt from the driver side lower corner, up and inward at an angle for about 3 inches, straight across the windshield and head for the lower passenger side corner in the same manner as it started. It sits about 3 inches from the bottom of the window frame lforming a big trapezoid with the bottom of the frame and is not in what they call the "critical viewing area".. Its been that way for 5 years. Never gotten another chip, crack, etc.

While I don't dispute that orienting the windshield a bit more horizontally might improve the life of the windshield, I am inclined to think that the issue is more related to the window frame perhaps not actually matching the shape of the windshield. It's almost like it's under too much tension and once there is a crack, it propagates quickly until the tension is relieved.

In support of this theory, my Gladiator caught a rock from a semi truck that was entering the highway just as we were about to exit (one of those entry ramp/lane turns into the next exit ramp/lane scenarios) on our first overlanding excursion. Luckily, there was a glass repair shop within 1/4 mile of that exit ramp, so I rolled in and had the chip filled. Although it spiderwebbed a bit, that was three years ago and there has been no further spread and I have had many other rocks bounce off the windshield since.

Now maybe I'm just lucky that I have not caught that "perfect rock" on these windshields since, but it really seems like the windshield is under too much tension and it is constantly "looking" for a way to relax.

 

[dajudge]

The windshield is fairly straight up and down! Also, the frame is not a solid part of the vehicle because it folds down. The air flow over the vehicle directs things towards the windshield.
These are all parts of the design of the Jeep that makes it sell like crazy! And none of this is a surprise if a person bothered to do ANY research at all before they bought something. It has been a problem since 1941.
A class action lawsuit is the stupidest thing I have ever heard of. Go back to a minivan if you don't like it!

 

[sharpsicle]

The class action alleges Fiat Chrysler (FCA) allegedly knew or should have known the windshields were defective before the Jeeps were first sold.

According to the Jeep windshield lawsuit, the statute of limitations should be suspended (tolled) because the automaker allegedly concealed what it knew about the defective windshields.

Chrysler still doesn't warn owners about the alleged faults and dangers of the Jeep windshields and how the vehicles will continue to need expensive windshield repairs and replacements. FCA also has a duty to warn customers how the allegedly defective windshields will diminish the resale values.

I am not claiming I know if they are or are not defective. But to claim they are requires evidence. I sure hope they have some above and beyond the anecdotal crap mentioned in that link. In addition, they need to have solid enough evidence of the defect along with evidence of a FCA cover-up for any of this to hold its own. That's a tall order, and I'm not buying it.

And "diminish resale values"? Are you kidding? You must be kidding. Wranglers and Gladiators hold better resale values than most vehicles on the market.

I believe they are 100% fishing with this suit. It's a few upset people that a lawyer convinced to sign on to make it a class action so the firm could pressure FCA into a settlement and get a quick payday. They're throwing out whatever jargon they can to make it seem bigger and more impactful than it is not because it's true, but because they want to deter FCA from fighting it and settle quicker. It's a cash grab. It has no real merit. This is garbage.

 

[ToJTornottoJT]

I drove a CJ-5, a CJ-7, and a Scrambler for years and years and rarely,, if ever, had chipped or cracked windshield. They were thicker, better built.

 

[Mad Dog]

I had a crack start in mine a few months after i bought it. Never had any impacts or heating cooling events, the crack just started and eventually crossed the windshield. I have an '03 TJ rubicon and never had any cracks. I think it's the way the windshield is not part of the structure of the body anymore, it's a hinged panel so to speak separate from the roll cage.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

this is everyone's responsibility after leaving the trails for front AND rear tires. and always should be for all vehicles regardless of windshield shape and angle.

As much as it would suck breaking your own windshield, at least you've only victim to your own inaction. Driving off a trail shooting rocks behind you because you only bothered to look out for yourself isn't cool. I take the same issue with people who do front only mudflaps with a hearty "good luck everybody else" attitude, but not everyone agrees with me on that one.

A big amen to that. I recall driving back home one evening after I mounted my steel bumper on this 2022 and not having put the ends on it yet - turned a corner a mile from home and SMACK! Front tire tossed a rock into the air which promptly smacked the hood, chipped the paint, then bounced up against the glass. Luckily no damage and luckily hit the hood first. Otherwise, my own tires would have cost me.

Here's the point to Gorilla Glass IN GENERAL, and since Jeep JL and JT windshields are like sails in the wind, it's even worse: GG will only REDUCE the numbers, reduce the instances, and reduce the likelihood of a chip or crack. It will not, it CAN NOT prevent them. It reduces the changes by roughly 60% (and that's not Jeep talking, that's windshield makers talking)

If you buy GG thinking you won't have cracks or chips, you didn't do your homework - and don't blame the dog.

I also fail to see the windshields diminishing the resale value. Maybe that explains why they are marked up 10K instead of 20K or why most dealers sell easily for MSRP.

Attorneys - check the ads on the low cost OTA TV stations - every other commercial is a "were you stationed at..........." or "does your child have autism? We know the cause and we will get you lots of money" ads.

I know a few danged good and really honest attorneys - and then there's the rest of them.
I question how they came to the conclusion that these are defective? Do they not know that FCA doesn't make windshields? Few auto companies make their own - even Ford sold their glass works a while back if I recall correctly, and now buy from other suppliers.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

I had a crack start in mine a few months after i bought it. Never had any impacts or heating cooling events, the crack just started and eventually crossed the windshield. I have an '03 TJ rubicon and never had any cracks. I think it's the way the windshield is not part of the structure of the body anymore, it's a hinged panel so to speak separate from the roll cage.

Actually, windshields that are part of the structure are MORE prone to stress cracking as the unibody twists and flexes.
There's something going on with those that simply crack, but it's not from not being part of the structure. That frame is extremely rigid. And once it's bolted to the roll cage, it's in effect, part of the structure.

 

[Jeeperjamie]

Every vehicle I've ever owned except my wife's BMW X5 50i I've had to put multiple windshields in them because of cracks or dings. My 2013 BMW 328i is on its 3rd replacement windshield and there is currently a crack in it. We don't drive the X5 as much as our other vehicles. I'm on my 2nd replacement in my Gladiator with right at 72,000 miles. I put 4 windshields in our Old 2006 Ford Escape we had and that was before it had 60,000 miles on it.

Cracked windshields are a part of life, they happen. This is a forum so your gonna hear about them on here and everyone is gonna assume that jeep just makes crappy windshields. My buddy has almost 80,000 miles on his JT and it's on the original windshield and my father in law has 200,000+ on his 2007 jeep Wrangler with the original windshield still in it.

This lawsuit probably will amount to nothing if I had to guess but who knows when fat people can sue McDonald's because they get fat eating it and win then maybe this lawsuit is on to something.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Every vehicle I've ever owned except my wife's BMW X5 50i I've had to put multiple windshields in them because of cracks or dings. My 2013 BMW 328i is on its 3rd replacement windshield and there is currently a crack in it. We don't drive the X5 as much as our other vehicles. I'm on my 2nd replacement in my Gladiator with right at 72,000 miles. I put 4 windshields in our Old 2006 Ford Escape we had and that was before it had 60,000 miles on it.

Cracked windshields are a part of life, they happen. This is a forum so your gonna hear about them on here and everyone is gonna assume that jeep just makes crappy windshields. My buddy has almost 80,000 miles on his JT and it's on the original windshield and my father in law has 200,000+ on his 2007 jeep Wrangler with the original windshield still in it.

This lawsuit probably will amount to nothing if I had to guess but who knows when fat people can sue McDonald's because they get fat eating it and win then maybe this lawsuit is on to something.

2004 WJ I bought from Dad's estate - got it home and saw that Dad had missed seeing a chip that had a teeny little flare coming off from one side and it would have led to a crack. I had it repaired - free, and it was fine from then on.
1982 Eagle SX4 - chip had a tiny hard to see leg coming off one side. Since it was still a chip and no larger than a .17 BB, it was repaired. That was back in about 2014. Still fine today.
F250 - rock chip led to crack width of windshield after using defroster in the winter. Fixed by trading in truck.
At least 3 of our various Grand Cherokees not counting the WJ above had windshield chips and cracks that led to replacement (they came out and fixed it in the parking lot at work while my wife was working), another had a chip that was repaired.
In one case, I was driving her Jeep back across town on I235 and was in the left lane to avoid heavy right lane traffic and truck traffic in the right lanes (yes, I was passing so I was legally there)
in the far right lane, 3 lanes away, was a concrete truck. It had rocks and gravel on the fenders, etc. It was just about 4 or 5 car lengths ahead of me lanes away. I watched a piece of gravel fall off that truck, bounce across the other lanes, missing traffic in those lanes, and watched as it hit the windshield in my wife's Grand Cherokee SMACK right in the center of my field of vision. It was like watching a slo-mo movie of a rock. (so don't even suggest "you can avoid such things by not following anyone so close" LOL)

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